How To DIY a Chalkboard Sign with No Art Skills

When you are trying to sell a home, you are willing to go the distance to make it feel welcoming. When we needed to sell our previous home, we needed to find something welcoming to put in the large entry hall. We didn’t want to spend a ton of money on something that might not fit with our next home, so we needed a quick and inexpensive solution before our house was listed. The answer? An easy DIY chalkboard sign.

This project is so easy, you’ll probably spend more time gathering the supplies than you do completing the project.

1) Find or Make a Chalkboard.I used black chalkboard paint on an old picture frame from our basement. Chalk paint is so easy! First, I cleaned the glass off. Next, I applied two coats of paint. The first coat was painted horizontal and the second painted vertical. Use a foam roller or foam brush to minimize streak marks. Finally, I “seasoned” the fresh chalk paint with a coat of plain chalk (NOT the liquid kind) and then gently wiped it off. This makes it easier to cover over any mistakes you might make with a chalk pen later on.

2) Print Out the Design for Your Chalkboard.There are so many ways you can do this step. If you are not particularly artsy like me, you can buy a print from Etsy and transfer it to the chalkboard. I like this option the best because it’s quick (hello instant download!) and it’s a great way to support small businesses. The original artwork I purchased was an 8 X 10 print, so I enlarged it quite a bit to fit my 15 X 19 inch frame.

3) Once everything is sized and printed, cover the back of your paper with chalk. Check out the posts here for really awesome photo details of this process.

4) Tape the wording to your chalkboard just as you want it to read (chalk side down). Use a pencil to trace over the wording. This will leave a slight outline of your design on the chalkboard. It was at this point that I realized the laurel wreath in the original design was not the correct proportions for my larger frame. Instead of tracing the design’s laurel wreath, I went ahead with the next step and saved the wreath part for last (more on that below).

5) Remove the paper to reveal your faint chalk design. Now for the fun part! Trace the design using chalk or a chalk pen. The best part about this step is that it’s CHALK. Don’t worry about messing up the lettering because you can always just erase it (with a little water and a paper towel or Q-tip) and start again!

Now back to the laurel wreath design. As I said, the original wreath in the design I purchased didn’t look right with my wonky sized frame. After the wording was dry, I used my casserole dish (slightly more oval shaped than the original) to trace the outline of the wreath. Then I freehanded the laurel wreath. Guys, free handing the laurel wreath felt SOOO risky to me! I wouldn’t list drawing as a strong point AT ALL. But I am pretty happy with how it turned out. All this to say – if I can do this part, you can too! And here’s the sign hanging in our new little entry way.

(P.S. If you are wondering why our cute red cabinet is empty, let me just say that I’ve given up on keeping our one year old out of it. Can you relate? Pick your battles, mamas. Our three-year-old is usually stuffing it full of toys to play “toy shop” with. Ah well, someday we’ll use it for it’s proper purpose. We have a really functional garage stoarge bench and cubby that we use as our “drop zone” anyway, so this is just bonus space for now.)Happy crafting!

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